Carlos Sastre slaps back at Lance Armstrong for calling him a 'package': "Everyone is where he deserves to be"
Cycling
Lance Armstrong won seven consecutive Tours de France between 1999 and 2005 before his first retirement. Three years later, in 2008, the Grande Boucle went to Carlos Sastre, who managed to win the Tour from the brothers Franck and Andy Schleck after a memorable attack on Alpe d'Huez. In a recent interview with Relevo colleagues, Sastre talks about what Lance Armstrong and his regrettable statements have meant in his life:
Armstrong returned to professional cycling in 2009 in his own words because a "package" like Sastre had won in Paris. The rest is history: the American could not win again, the USADA took heat for his return, began investigations and the Texan was stripped of all his titles. Thus, the modest Carlos Sastre ended his career with a Tour while the American has none.
"I'm glad that Armstrong has taken me into account, that such an important person cares about a poor shopkeeper who is here in a bike store, the truth is that it makes me feel happy, that there is someone who remembers. Each one of us is where we deserve to be, I don't care what he says, I don't care, when you have the security of how you have achieved things in your life, what the rest of the world tells you doesn't matter. It's a world full of obstacles that you have to overcome day by day. Armstrong has been nothing more than a bump in my life."
It's okay to bash you whatever they'd like to say. We're free to comment and that is good. I know in 2008 that Contador is invisible even he's not 100% he can win Giro then later on La Vuelta. On the Tour, the only interesting on stage 17 going up climbing Alpe d'Huez where Sastre attacks Evans, own teammates Schleck Bros., Kohl, VandeVelde and Valverde that could be his finest stage win career. Ricco has this EPO issue. That's why Armstrong saying this Tour 2008 is kind a bit boring to watch.
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- Not just the crash, it was also bad positioning when the first attack of Pogi came.abstractengineer07-04-2025
- ahhh, I don't know it, yes, I'm used to 7 days of antibiotic therapy. Thank you for the information!
maria2024202407-04-2025 - So in the end he did pretty well tactically too :-)Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Why Maria, what is your reasoning? He was already ill during E3, thought he’d get over it but it got worse which is probably when he took them. His doc will be amongst the best-informed and his infection perfectly analysed. Read this and stop relying on generalised outdated assumptions about antibiotical treatment, part of the reason they may soon no longer be effective at all. “ In 2008, one of us (L.B.R.) posited that of the different ways the medical community could reduce the amount of antibiotic treatment prescribed, the one that seemed safest and most achievable was to treat infections only for as long as necessary to achieve optimal cure rates (1). It is difficult and potentially dangerous for providers not to prescribe antibiotics at all, but it should be easier to convince them not to prescribe antibiotics for so long. The evidentiary basis of traditional durations of antibiotic therapy is that a week is 7 days (2), which is why tried-and-true antibiotic regimens are 7 to 14 days long. The definition of a week was decreed by Roman Emperor Constantine the Great nearly 2000 years ago (2). This seems an unsatisfactory evidentiary basis for modern medical practice. Fortunately, in recent years, more than 45 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared the efficacy of short-course versus traditional, longer courses of antibiotic therapy for the treatment of community-acquired and nosocomial pneumonia, acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and sinusitis, complicated urinary and intra-abdominal infections, Gram-negative bacteremia, acute bacterial skin infections, osteomyelitis and septic arthritis, and even neutropenic fever (3, 4). All RCTs for these diseases and 2 meta-analyses of these RCTs (5, 6) found no difference in efficacy between shorter and traditional courses of antibiotic therapy. Of note, the short-course regimens that were studied were typically not based on Constantine’s 7-day week. For pneumonia specifically, 8 RCTs have shown that 3- to 5-day courses of antibiotic therapy are at least as effective as 7- to 14-day courses for community-acquired pneumonia”Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Totally. There may still be some details to disgust us but it won’t change anything to the basics of what happened and that the punishment was totally appropriate. If there was/is anything relevant to add, nothing is stopping him from doing that, he hasthe platform and connections and know-how how to defend himself in precarious affairs so why hesitate??? No use to your ego once you’re dead ;-) Barring a Trump pardon and awarding of fake US TdF titles, I don’t see it happening on this planetMistermaumau07-04-2025
- Silly comment in light of what was revealed post-race. Obviously the illness affected him on the day, he was even outsprinted by MP and Wout kept up with him.Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Meaning, if dad was asked before he knew of the top secret* illness he wouldn’t have been able to integrate it into his “analysis”. * knowing how he likes talking, I expect it was kept secret even from him so as not to give things away.Mistermaumau07-04-2025
- Yes, but you have to take into account the order of interviews and the spread of knowledgeMistermaumau07-04-2025
- The truth is already out. Thats what the purpose of the testimony he gave was. Nevermind someone innocent would not have ruined so many lives in the process. If he somehow was ever allowed back in pro cycling or his records restored, not only would it be a travesty for Justice in sport, but it would be the end of cycling. Already done so much damage, and continues to by making stupid statements on his podcast to stay relevant. If he actually had any respect for the sport, or other people, he'd stop treating the world like fools and own his past and present. Not try and make up sob stories. Especially when all they do is highlight his entitlement and privilege.HoopoeChai07-04-2025
- "very sick" but only 3 antibiotic days? strange.maria2024202407-04-2025